Clark v. State

• Decision Date: 26 March 1980
• Docket Number: No. 3-877A201,3-877A201
• Citation: 401 N.E.2d 773
• Parties: David LaMar (Lawson) CLARK, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

Page 773

401 N.E.2d 773

David LaMar (Lawson) CLARK, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 3-877A201.

Court of Appeals of Indiana, Fourth District.

March 26, 1980.

Petersen & Muntz Law Office, Howard E. Petersen, Richard K. Muntz, LaGrange, for appellant-defendant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Terry G. Duga, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee-plaintiff.

MILLER, Presiding Judge.

David LaMar (Lawson) Clark was found guilty of first degree burglary ¹ by a jury and sentenced to 10-20 years imprisonment. A proper appeal followed which raises several issues. However, due to our conclusion that evidence of Clark's confession and later participation in the search of the crime scene were products of an unlawful arrest and improperly admitted into evidence, we need only discuss that issue.

The evidence most favorable to the State disclosed that Dale Klopfenstein and his family lived in mobile home in LaGrange County. Between 5:00 and 5:30 p. m. on November 10, 1975, the family turned out the lights, locked their door and traveled two-tenths of a mile down the road to visit Dale's mother. About one hour later they noticed a light on at their home and returned to investigate. As they pulled out of the driveway they observed a car on the road stop, turn off its headlights and, as they approached, drive away. They discovered their home had been burglarized and several items were missing. Klopfenstein observed a shadow in the yard which might have been the family dog. The police were called but before they arrived Klopfenstein, armed with a gun, drove in search of the culprit. He located the car which he had seen on the road previously and held the sole occupant of the car, later identified as Larry Swearengin, at gunpoint until the police arrived. The police took Swearengin into custody and searched the crime area finding some of the guns missing from the mobile home. No one saw any other person in the area at that time, but the search continued through the night.

The next morning, November 11, 1975, at approximately 6:50 a. m. Myron Sharp, an Indiana State Police Detective, saw the "lightly clad" Clark walking on a road about two and one-half miles from the scene of the burglary. He asked Clark for identification and was shown Clark's Florida driver's license. Clark was placed under arrest and transported to the LaGrange County Jail. Nothing in the record indicates the police knew at the time that Swearengin was in any way connected with Florida or defendant Clark.

While in transit Clark was read his Miranda rights from a card. The officers testified Clark was advised of his rights again before interrogation after arriving at the station. However, he was not asked to sign a written waiver form even though forms were available and it was the usual procedure to obtain a signature. That morning, Clark gave a confession and agreed to accompany the police officers to the scene of the burglary.

The first thing the next morning, Clark, without any additional Miranda warnings, accompanied the police to the Klopfensteins' property to search for the rest of the missing guns. They recovered the guns, although actually without help from Clark. They also found a pair of red gloves which matched the description of a pair Clark stated he had lost. After accompanying police to the scene, Clark had a preliminary hearing before a justice of the peace later that day.

Clark contends the testimony pertaining to his confession and his participation in the search for the guns was inadmissible as it was a product of an unlawful arrest. A warrantless arrest is unlawful if not supported by probable cause. Morris v. State, (1980) Ind., 399 N.E.2d 740; Dearing v. State, (1979) Ind., 393 N.E.2d 167; Gardner v. State, (1979) Ind., 388 N.E.2d 513. Probable cause exists when at the time of the arrest the officer has knowledge of facts and circumstances which would warrant a man of reasonable caution and prudence to believe the defendant committed the criminal act in question. Crane v. State, (1978) Ind., 380 N.E.2d 89; Barnes v. State, (1978) Ind., 378 N.E.2d 839.

When Clark was arrested, the facts and circumstances known to the arresting officer were (1) a burglary had been committed the night before; (2) Dale Klopfenstein may have seen the shadow of a person in his yard; (3) one person in a vehicle had been arrested for the burglary and, (4) Clark a Florida resident, was walking down the road about twelve hours after the burglary and about two and one-half miles away from the crime scene. These facts and circumstances failed to connect Clark with the crime and, thus, probable cause did not exist when Clark was arrested. His arrest was unlawful.

However, an illegal arrest does not automatically render all inculpatory statements and actions inadmissible. The determining question is whether the inculpatory evidence was "obtained by exploitation of the illegality of (the) arrest". Dunaway v. New York, (1979) 442 U.S. 200, 99 S.Ct. 2248, 60 L.Ed.2d 824. The factors used in this evaluation were set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Illinois, (1975) 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416, as: 1) the temporal proximity of the arrest and the confession 2) the presence of intervening circumstances, and 3) the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. The State, of course, has the burden of proving admissibility. Dunaway v. New York, supra; Brown v. Illinois, supra.

The mere giving of Miranda warnings to the accused does not per se render an inculpatory statement made after an illegal arrest admissible. This was explicitly set forth in Brown v. Illinois, supra.

The Illinois courts refrained from resolving the question, as apt here as it was in Wong Sun (Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441), whether Brown's statements were obtained by exploitation of the illegality of this arrest. They assumed that the Miranda warnings, by themselves, assured that the statements (verbal acts, as contrasted with physical evidence) were of sufficient free will as to purge the primary taint of the unlawful arrest. Wong Sun, of course, preceded Miranda.

Thus, even if the statements in this case were found to be voluntary under the Fifth Amendment, the Fourth Amendment issue remains. In order for the causal chain, between the illegal arrest and the statements made subsequent thereto, to be broken. Wong Sun requires not merely that the statement meet the Fifth Amendment standard of voluntariness but that it be "sufficiently an act of free will to purge the primary taint." 371 U.S. at 486, 83 S.Ct. at 416. Wong Sun thus mandates consideration of a statement's admissibility in light of the distinct policies and interests of the Fourth Amendment.

If Miranda warnings, by themselves, were held to attenuate the taint of an unconstitutional arrest, regardless of how wanton and purposeful the Fourth Amendment violation, the effect of the exclusionary rule would be substantially diluted. See Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 726-727, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 1397, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969). Arrests made without warrant or without probable cause, for questioning or "investigation," would be encouraged by the knowledge that evidence derived therefrom could well be made admissible at trial by the simple expedient of giving Miranda warnings. Any incentive to avoid Fourth Amendment violations would be eviscerated by making the warnings, in effect, a "cure-all," and the constitutional guarantee against unlawful searches and seizures could be said to be reduced to "a form of words."

The question whether a confession is the product of a free will under Wong Sun must be answered on the facts of each case. No single fact is dispositive. The workings of the human mind are too complex, and the possibilities of misconduct too diverse, to permit protection of the Fourth Amendment to turn on such a talismanic test. The Miranda warnings are an important factor, to be sure, in determining whether the confession is obtained by exploitation of an illegal arrest. But they are not the only factor to be considered. The temporal proximity of the arrest and the confession, the presence of intervening circumstances, see Johnson v. Louisiana, 406 U.S. 356, 365, 92 S.Ct. 1620, 1626, 32 L.Ed.2d 152 (1972), and, particularly, the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct are all relevant.

Brown v. Illinois, supra at 600-604, 95 S.Ct. at 2260-2262.

Neither does the giving of a prior involuntary statement alone render a subsequent statement inadmissible.

A prior involuntary statement may render a second or subsequent statement inadmissible:

"Of course, after an accused has once let the cat out of the bag by confessing, no matter what the inducement, he is never thereafter free of the psychological and practical disadvantages of having confessed."

U. S. v. Bayer, (1947), 331 U.S. 532 at 540, 67 S.Ct. 1394 at 1398, 91 L.Ed. 1654 at 1660. However, a prior involuntary confession does not render subsequent statements inadmissible per se.

"But this Court has never gone so far as to hold that making a confession under circumstances which preclude its use, perpetually disables the confessor from making a usable one after these conditions have been removed."

U. S. v. Bayer, supra, 331 U.S. at 541, 67 S.Ct. at 1398, 91 L.Ed. at 1660. Neither does the mere advisement of Miranda rights necessarily purge the taint of circumstances surrounding the previous confession. Brown v. Illinois, (1975) 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416.

In order for a subsequent confession to be admissible there must be a break in the chain of events sufficient to insulate the statement from that which went before. Clewis v. Texas, (1967) 386 U.S. 707, 87 S.Ct. 1338, 18 L.Ed.2d 423; Leyra v. Denno, (1954) 347 U.S. 556, 74 S.Ct. 716, 98 L.Ed. 948. The totality of the circumstances should be reviewed in determining the...